Snowshoe



June I6, 1925.

J. F. FOSTER SNO'SHGE Filed Nov. 12, 1923 nvezbr Patented June 16, 1925.

4iiNrriZD STATES 1,542,496 PATENT orifice! JOSEPH F. Fos'rnn, OF JACKMAN, Marian.

SNOVVSI-IOE.

Application filed November 12, 1923. Serial No. 674,217.

To all' fio/icm Muay cof/zoem.:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH F. Fos'rnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Jackman, in thel county of Somerset Vand State of Maine, have invented new and useful Improvements in Snowshoes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a snow shoe having a heelless foot pocket, adapted to receive the forepart of the wearers foot and loosely connected with the snow shoe, so that the rear portion of the pocket is free to rise and fall independently of the snow shoe.

One object of the invention is to provide improved means for loosely connecting the toe portion of the pocket with the snow shoe, in suoli manner as to prevent objectionable endwise and sidewise displacement of the pocket, and to permit its rear portion to freely rise and fall independently.

Another object is to provide improved means for firmly securing the pocket to the wearers foot without interfering with the upward and downward movements of the rear portion of thepocket.

I attain the above-mentioned and other related objects by the improved construction hereinafter described and claimed.

Of the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specificatiom- Figure 1 is a top plan View of a snow shoe embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is an edge view of the same.

Figure 3 is a section on line 3--3 of Figure 1.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all of the figures.

The frame 12 and the tread portions 13 of the snow shoemay be of any suitable construction, the tread portions being composed, as usual, of interlacing thongs secured to the frame and forming open meshes. The snow shoe is provided with a heelless pocket 14, adapted to receive the forepart. of the wearers foot. Said pocket is preferably a heelless moccasimthe general construction of which is so clearly shown by the drawings that description thereof is unnecessary.

The pocket is provided with strap guides 15, at opposite sides of its toe portion, said guides being preferably leather strips united at their end portions to the sides of the pocket by stitches 16, which are spaced apart, so that a coniining strap 17 may be passed betwe-en the central portions of the members and the sides of the pocket.

The confining strap 17 extends across the toe portion of the pocket and across the confining membersl. The end portions of the strap are anchored tothe snow shoe at opposite sides of the pocket, preferably by being threaded through meshes of one of the tread portions 13, as shown by Figures 1 and 2, the anchored portions being bent, as best shown by Figure 1, so that they are frictionally engaged with the thongs and are free from liability to slip lengthwise from their anchored positions.

The portion of the strap 17 between the anchored portions constitutes an arched loop, which cooperates with the retaining members 15 in loosely conlining the pocket against objectionable endwise and sidewise displacement, and in permitting the rear portion ofthe pocket to freely rise and fall. The anchored portions may be forcibly shifted to vary the length of the loop and thus permit the rear portion of the pocket to rise variably, so that the heel portion of the foot may have any desired freedom of upward movement from the snow shoe.

Vhen the poclret is formed as a heelless nioccasin, its rear portion is adapted to be contracted about the instep portion of the wearers foot and maintained closely con-V tracted to prevent the admission `of snow. '12o cause such contraction, I provide a contracting strap 20, fixed, as by rivets 21, to the rear portion of the pocket, at the lower side thereof and having free ends adapted to overlap the upper side of the pocket, the strap being provided at one end with a buckle 22, adapted to engage the other end of the strap.

yTo confine the foot against backward withdrawal from the pocket, I provide a heel strap 23, Fixed at one end to one sideof the rear portion of the pocket, and adapted to extend from that side around the heel of the wearer, and to the opposite side, where the pocket is provided with a buckle 211, adapted to engage the heel strap and maintain it suitably tensioned.

I claim:

-1. A snow shoe having a heelless foot pocket bearing on a portion of the open mesh tread or filling of the shoe, said pocket being formed to receive the fore part of a foot and provided with strap guides at opposite sides of its toe portion7 and a confining strap extending across the toe portion of the pocket and slidable lengthwise in said guides, said strap having free end portions each threaded through a plurality of meshes of the said tread portion and frictionally engaged with the thongs thereof to adjustably anchor thel strap ends, so that the niidlength portion of the strap constitutes an `arched loop of Variable length which cooperateswith said guides in conining the pocket against.l objectionable endwise and sidewise displacement, and in permitting the rear portion of the pocket to rise variably from the tread portion. Y

2. A snow shoe having a pocket formed as a heelless moccasin7 adapted to receive the fore part of a foot7 and adapted to be contracted at its rear end portion around the instep portion of the foot, and a contracting strap embracing said rear end portion and fixed to the lower side thereof, said strap having free end portions overlapping the instep portion and a buckle secured to one end of said strapand adapted to engage the other end to maintain the rear end portion of the pocket closelyv contractedon thefoot, means being providedfor loosely conlining the moccasinagainst endwise and sidewise displacement, andpermitting its rear portion to rise and fall.

In testimony whereof l have affixed my sig-nature.

' JOSEPH: F. F-OS'IER..v 

